Does a triple divorce take effect upon someone who swore an oath of divorce to a colleague not to deal with him in a certain matter, with the intention of abandoning a sin, and then he returned and did that matter, knowing that the oath was made in a moment of anger?

The majority of scholars hold that a divorce pronounced in an oath takes effect if the oath is broken, and that a triple divorce pronounced as such counts as three. Thus, if the one who swore the oath breaks it, his wife is divorced from him by a triple and irrevocable divorce (baynunah kubra). She does not become lawful for him again unless she marries another man, and he consummates the marriage with her, and then divorces her or dies, and her waiting period (iddah) expires.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the view that the ruling on swearing an oath by divorce, when the intent is not to effect a divorce but rather to threaten or emphasize, is the same as swearing an oath by Allah. Thus, if the oath is broken, the one who swore it must pay an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin), and no divorce takes effect. However, if the intent is to effect a divorce, he holds that a triple divorce pronounced as such counts as one.

The lawful oath is to swear by Allah the Almighty. As for swearing by divorce, it is among the oaths of the dissolute. Using oaths to compel oneself to abandon sins is not a sound approach. The sound approach is to seek assistance from Allah Almighty and to make sincere repentance.